OTC: Once you buy the hardware, how do get the crews to it?

The Offshore Technology Conference is all about the hardware, and it’s assumed that if companies deploy the technology, workers will be there to use it.

Wings Travel Management doesn’t have a booth at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference, but its representatives are working the halls and display areas, touching base with existing customers and looking for new ones.

The Houston-based company specializes in travel for the energy industry. It handles not just commercial air travel, but marine transport, hotels and other arrangements. Like other businesses here, rising worldwide demand for energy is driving Wings’ sales.

“We are definitely seeing a considerable spike in activity,” Mary Ann Harvey, Wings’ vice president for the Americas, told me.

More than many other businesses, energy companies need to be able to coordinate a large number of travel plans on short notice. By specializing in one industry, Wings understands companies needs. Harvey, for example, previously worked as a travel manager for Halliburton.

Lucas Ribeiro, who runs Wings’ South America operations, said travel can be especially difficult in regions such as Brazil, which have seen a dramatic rise in new drilling. Airports are trying to accommodate far more flights than they were designed for, and hotel rooms are always in short supply.

With rigs costing tens of thousands of dollars a day to operate, oil companies can’t afford down time because of travel glitches.

“Everything needs to be done now,” Ribeiro said.

What’s more, companies’ plans can change on short notice, and dozens of employees may need to be rerouted on short notice.

“You’ve got to look closely at the details, and you’ve got to be ready,” he said. “Last minute changes happen every minute.”

Wings provides travel services for crews on about 15 percent of Brazil’s offshore rigs, he said.

“The travel business has become very electronic, but there’s still a need for people on the ground who know the region,” Harvey said. “You have to always be thinking about what the backup plan is. We have to get everyone out to the rig on time and on budget. If we don’t get them there, it can cost our customers thousands of dollars.”